Miriam’s nemesis: Atty. Vitaliano Aguirre President-elect Rody Duterte’s Justice Secretary
Miriam’s nemesis: Atty. Vitaliano Aguirre has been chosen by the President-elect Rody Duterte to be the Justice Secretary. Atty Aguirre is another classmate of Duterte whom he asked to join his Cabinet. Aguirre and Duterte are batchmates in San Beda Law School’s powerhouse 1971 batch which includes Associate Justice Jose Central Mendoza and Bienvenido Reyes, Sandiganbayan Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada and the later labor commissioner and lawmaker Roy Seneres.
The lawyer is also known as the lawyer of Hubert Webb and Sen. Panfilo Lacson.He also crossed paths with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV when he handled direct examination of Trillanes and his peers in the Magdalo group in course of the the Feliciano Commission’s probe of the 2003 Oakwood mutiny.
Subsequently, lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre has accepted Duterte’s offer to join in the Cabinet, serving as a secretary of the Department of Justice.
It can be recalled that Aguirre gained media attention after he covered his ears while Senator Miriam Santiago scolded prosecutors during the impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012. Before being cited in contempt by the impeachment court, Aguirre faced the senator-judges, saying he covered his ears on purpose because he no longer wanted to hear the senator’s “shrill voice.”
“He’s a bright lawyer and a placer in the bar exams. I think he’s second or fourth. I can only sympathize with him and I agree with his proposition that a man’s dignity is worth fighting for no matter what the consequences may be. He was simply nor at the right place when he defended that dignity,” Lacson said being sympathetic to what happened to Aguirre after being cited in contempt by the impeachment court in 2012.
Read more:https://philnews.ph/2016/05/11/president-rody-dutertes-possible-cabinet-members/